"Cookie Monster" relinquishes stolen gold biscuit

BERLIN (Reuters) - A large golden emblem stolen from one of Germany's most famous biscuit-makers by a thief dressed as the "Cookie Monster" has reappeared.

The Bahlsen company's 20 kg (44 pound) trademark "Leibniz-Keks" cookie, which adorned the entrance of its headquarters in the northern German city of Hanover for a century, has been found hanging on a local statue of a horse, police said.

Shortly after it went missing in January, a ransom note arrived at a newspaper which included a photo of the thief dressed as the Cookie Monster puppet character from children's television series "Sesame Street", pretending to take a bite from the golden biscuit.

German police said the biscuit, which was found wrapped in red ribbon on an equestrian monument in front of the Leibniz University of Hanover, was being examined but said there were no clues yet regarding the identity of the thief.

The plain butter rectangular biscuit depicted by the emblem and the university are both named after Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, an influential 17th century mathematician and philosopher famed for his work on mechanical calculators.

"I am very pleased and I hope that this really is our biscuit and that we can put it up again soon," company Chairman Werner Bahlsen said in a statement this week.

Bahlsen pledged last week to donate 52,000 packets of biscuits to charities if the golden biscuit was returned.

"If this really is our golden cookie, we will of course keep this promise," Bahlsen said.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin, editing by Gareth Jones and Paul Casciato)